At the Australian Veterinary Association’s (AVA) Annual General Meeting in Canberra in March 1994, a decision was taken for the AVA to support an accreditation scheme to allow deer farmers to be trained to remove velvet antler from their own deer, after undertaking an approved course of training.
The AVA reaffirmed the need for the “use of an effective analgesic technique administered by a veterinary surgeon, or, under the direction of a veterinary surgeon, by operators trained and accredited to perform the procedure from their own stock.” The AVA thus also agreed that velvet antler harvest is a legitimate procedure on deer farms, and that the process is humane, as long as accepted procedures to achieve analgesia are used.
The first program to train and accredit deer farmers in Australia was developed in Western Australia in 1992, in parallel with the initiation of a similar program in New Zealand. This first program was put together for the Deer Farmers Association of WA by Dr Sue Joubert, and she must be given full credit for her work, which was carried out
will close attention to what was occurring in New Zealand.
A similar training course was conducted in South Australia and Victoria a year later.
Both the SA and Victorian courses were derivatives of the WA course, and this has now evolved into what can now be
considered the National Deer Velveting Accreditation Scheme. After the AVA’s decision in March 1994, the Deer Farmers
Federation of Australia (DFFA), now the Deer Industry Association of Australia (DIAA) accepted the task of putting together
such a scheme, which would be approved by both the AVA and the Veterinary Surgeons’ Boards in all States.
A DIAA committee was formed in mid 1994, with Dr Tony English nominated by the AVA as its representative, charged with
the responsibility of ensuring that the new National Velvet Accreditation Scheme complied with the spirit of the AVA’s decision
in March 1994 to permit deer farmers to harvest velvet from their own deer.
The two primary concerncs expressed during the protracted debate before and during the AVA AGM had concerned the animal welfare implications of such a scheme, and the drug supply issues involved.
A key element in the AVA’s approval of any such scheme was the approval of only 2 percent xylazine, yohimbine and local anaesthetic for use by deer farmers.
Source:
Dr A W English
Camden 5 September 1995
NVAS Course Notes